RUN AROUND – As Cotuit players scramble for the ball, Hyannis’ Drew Stankewicz (12) races home to give the Harbor Hawks the lead and ultimately the win in Game 5 of the Barnstable Patriot Cup series July 19 in Hyannis.

Hyannis makes it a contest

It was the bottom of the eighth inning in Game five of the Barnstable Patriot Cup series and the score was tied 3-3. With Cotuit holding a solid lead in the annual competition and a possible overall victory only outs away, Hyannis Harbor Hawks’ fans were at the edge of their seats.

Up to bat stepped Drew Stankewicz. Strike one. Then two balls. Suddenly Stankewicz swung into a double, rounding the bases to second, putting him in scoring position.

With tensions mounting, Tyler Spoon drew the first out, giving way to Skyler Ewing. On his first pitch Ewing swung hard and…crack! A double for Hyannis that scored Stankewicz. The Harbor Hawks had taken a late-game lead.

They weren’t finished yet. Next up was Austin Slater who hit a single to advance Ewing. With two men on and only one out, Chase Griffin stepped to the plate, singling to left field to bring in Ewing and Slater to give the Hawks a 6-3 edge as the game neared its end.

The end was a stunning turnaround compared to the start of the game when Hyannis struggled mightily in the first inning as Cotuit plated two runs as Hyannis head coach Chad Gassman was ejected from the game.

With the Kettleers leading the game and the series, the Hawks needed to step things up. A triple from Slater in the bottom of the second ignited a spark that resulted in a run on a single from Griffin, narrowing the score to 2-1.

The game then went scoreless for three-and-a-half innings, until the Harbor Hawks pushed a run across in the bottom of the sixth when Jay Baum came home on a single from Spoon. Tie game.

Undaunted, the Kettleers battled back in the top of the seventh, taking the lead again on a run from Rhett Wiseman, who scored on a double from teammate Nolan Clark. 3-2 Kettleers.

A rocky seventh led to another Hyannis run when Slater came in on a single from Brian Anderson to tie the game at 3-3, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Hyannis’ victory sets up a potential tiebreaker in the series, should they emerge victorious in the final game, set to take place July 29 at 5 p.m. in Cotuit.

Should a tiebreak be necessary, the first consideration will be Fewest Runs Allowed. At this point both teams are tied at 14, which brings about our next tiebreak, Most Strikeouts Against. In this case, the Harbor Hawks lead with 44 to Cotuit’s 36. In the event that Game 6 sets up a complete tie, team captains will meet on the field for a traditional bat toss.